The invention relates to the field of artificial lipid bilayer membranes.
Artificial monolayers and bilayers of lipids are frequently used in the discovery of the physiological and pharmacological properties of cell surface and intracellular membrane proteins. Artificial monolayers and bilayers are also key components of many commercial devices including sensitive biosensors that are being used or developed to detect biological warfare agents, to discover membrane receptors that regulate human disease or pathogen function, and to screen pharmaceutical agents to reveal their function, identity, and concentration. During the past forty years, electrophysiological studies of proteins reconstituted into unsupported lipid bilayers have generated detailed information on membrane protein function, ligand-binding, and kinetics. Because the function of membrane proteins plays a critical role in all aspects of development, organ function, and health, studies of proteins reconstituted into lipid bilayers are extensively used to screen for potentially useful drugs as well as to identify targets for drug therapies.
Electrophysiological studies have been used to characterize the properties of single molecules, such as DNA molecules, that can be translocated through transmembrane proteins such as α-hemolysin.
While monolayers are often formed and supported on hydrophobic surfaces, bilayers are more frequently assembled as free-standing membranes. Lipid monolayers and bilayers are labile, delicate structures that are easily damaged. Free-standing bilayer membranes, which are particularly well suited for acquisition of electrophysiological data from membrane proteins and sensitive nanopore detection methods, are especially susceptible to rupture. Therefore, there exists a need in the art for resilient artificial lipid membranes.